EPIC Open House with
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Channel: Yusha Evans
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AI Generated Summary ©
The American New Year is a recitation of the Quran covering popular and misunderstood statements, events, and community involvement. The success of the Eastern Islamic Center and the rise in racism and divisiveness at the West Coast are emphasized. Prayer and setting aside bias is emphasized, and the holy spirit is highlighted as having connections to their faith. The speakers stress the importance of finding acceptance and embracing one's own worth in praying, as well as embracing others' needs.AI Generated Transcript ©
I'm gonna request all the volunteers to have a seat please
all the volunteers boys
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I have
to come in
it's below Amanda Rahim. As begin I begin with Islamic greeting a Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh peace, mercy and blessings be upon you all.
Allah says in the Quran or mine, or mankind, surely we have created you have a male and a female and made you tribes and families that you may know each other. Surely the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah is the One who is most pious.
Surely Allah is Knowing and aware. This is from chapter 52 Verse 13.
But then sisters, ladies, sisters, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the community, or Imam, Shira USIA
the board I'd like to welcome you all to a place of worship East Plano Islamic Center, also known as epic.
This event is an open house titled open doors open hearts,
sha Allah, this is an event where we get to know each other you get to ask questions. So this is how we know each other what we do here. So in sha Allah, you will get to ask all the questions you might have.
The Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi salam peace be upon him, emphasized on taking care and honoring our neighbors.
This is what we are doing to know each other. So we begin with the program. I'm assuming that everyone had a chance to take a tour of the masjid anyone who has not taken the tour of the masjid
hamdulillah it's great. Everyone got a chance to see that's very nice. So anyone here who have visited epic before? I know don't it? Yes.
Good. Great. Welcome back.
So we begin we begin with the recitation of Quran. I'm going to lie I'd like to invite the principal of the epics Quran memorization school called Daru Quran sheiks ajet goal to recite a few verses of Surah Meriam or MaryAlice Salam please be upon her Sharla sexualidad
Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
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is Erica Lopez here suggested for the beautiful recitation. I'm sure as we were listening to search for that we were thinking what would the meat what are the meaning what is the meaning of these verses that he just recited? So inshallah I'm going to call upon one of his students, sister, Marian Sayed, to give us an English translation of this.
And mentioned Oh Mohamed, in the book, the story of Mary when she withdrew from her family to a place towards the east. Then she took in seclusion from them a screen. Then We sent to her Our Angel, and she and he represented himself to her as a well proportioned man. She said, Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you. So leave me if she if you should be fearing of Allah.
He said, I am only the messenger of your Lord, to give you news of a pure boy. She said, How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste he said that it will be your Lord says it is easy for me and we will make him a sign to the people any mercy from Us. And it is a matter already decreed. So she conceived him and she withdrew to him and she withdrew with him to a remote place.
And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of your palm tree. She said, Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in Oblivion forgotten.
But he called her from below her. Do not grieve Your Lord has provided beneath you a stream and shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree, it will drop upon you ripe fresh dates. So eat and drink and be content. And if you see from among humanity, anyone say, Indeed, I have found to the Most Merciful abstention.
So I will not speak today to any man. Then she brought him to her people carrying him. They said, Oh, Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. Oh, sister of halfmoon Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste so she pointed to him.
They said, how can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child.
Jesus said, Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet. And he has made me bless it wherever I am, and has enjoined upon me prayer and Zika. As long as I remain alive, it made me dutiful to my mother, and he has not made me a wretched tyrant. And peace is upon the day I was born, the day I will die, and the day I am raised alive again, that is Jesus, the son of Mary, the word of truth about which they are in dispute. It is not befitting for Allah to take a son, exalted as he, when he decrees in a fair He only says to be, and it is,
Jesus said, and indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him, that is a straight path.
Then the factions differed concerning Jesus from among them. So woe to those who disbelieved from the scene of a tremendous day, how clearly they will hear and see the day they come to us. But the wrong doors today are in clear error and warn them Oh Mohamed, of the day of regret, when the matter will be concluded. And yeah, they are in a state of heedlessness, and they do not believe Indeed, it is we who will inherit the earth and whoever is on it, and to us they shall be returned.
Does that Allah had sister marine say it mashallah, she's a full time student of the Daru Quran is the Quran memorization School of epic and while she homeschooled for her eighth grade, so this is amazing. Mashallah, Zach LaFell once again system heading for our next speaker. Now, I'd like to invite the president the president of East Plano, Islamic center, brother, Muhammad, Javad Issa, to say a few words in Sharla by the manager with Lisa.
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Rubbish. On Saturday, we're slowly unraveling of the de melissani of my family. So there was an hour or so lost a little early on was salam ala sayyidina, Muhammad wa ala Sayidina, Muhammad,
peace and blessing of God, Almighty Allah, on all of you.
I think
the Board of Directors, our Imam, Director of Education, Assad badger, who is not here who went with the, with the federal epic, outreach, Dawa committee,
all the volunteers, youth, brothers and sisters, who have arranged this beautiful event, to open the door of our mosque this Masjid to all of us, and especially those who are coming, and the first time visiting here, welcome, welcome to Epic.
I thank my community, for being engaged and supportive of these initiatives.
And I thank the leadership from other faiths.
And all of you who took the time on a weekend to come
and meet with us, given us the opportunity to see who we are, how our Masjid look. And I'm sure that you enjoyed the food as well.
Those were Mediterranean food, I believe, sort of Islamic food.
Thank you, thank you again.
It is imperative in today's ever shrinking world, that we do not use other faiths as a criterion to separate them from engaging in our civic arena.
We cannot afford to claim ignorance towards other religions. We must not claim to be religious by stating that it is only us and not others who matters.
We should appreciate that there is a dignity in difference.
assimilation and respect for others who are different than us should be an integral part of our faith.
More than 1400 years ago,
Muslim, learn about the coexistence from the life of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
When the Prophet peace be upon him stablished the first nation state in the city of Medina, Saudi Arabia, where Muslims Jews, politest, we're coexisting in peace under his leadership.
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him introduced the first constitution of the world
Word known as the medina code,
this accord guaranteed the freedom of religion for Muslims and non Muslims.
So this initiative, as open house as it says open house.
I'm not sure how many of us here at the first time, but
again, this was an opportunity to invite everyone to this building. This is called mosque, Masjid.
And obviously, primarily this masjid, this building serve for Muslims, to have five mandatory congregation prayers. But besides just the prayers, we are equally engaged in our society. And we wanted to be a part of it all the way
with Allah's help
myself on my board of directors of this organization, and
we are committed
to integrate our community into the society, and we are making every effort towards this goal.
As I said, the role of the masjid the role of this building is priorities for the group for the worship.
But we also serve the larger community community,
regardless of the faith.
And these services are provided through a pool of all the volunteers, hundreds of volunteers, as a matter of fact, this whole event was organized by our volunteers, brothers and sisters and youth who have welcomed you and serve you the food and give you the tours. So I thank them. And thank you again.
We here at Epic we have 18 plus committees, which are all run by the volunteers.
They don't get paid. But they, you know, they do commit with their times and the money and their services to this organization. And we try to serve the larger community. As I've said before, epi cares is also a very integral part of Eastern Islamic Center is a committee. And it's a faith driven program to formalize our support of community outreach efforts by working to integrate environmental and community development practices in the way we live.
There are many initial initiatives, I may not be able to count all of them but I just wanted to highlight few of the initiatives that we have. So that we understand here
unless the perception is different, otherwise, who we are.
We are part of everything that everyone else does in the society. We have a feed hungry program, to the meals on the wheels and the North Texas Food Bank, we work with them
enhance social justice, we work with the Habitat for Humanity, come for the sick, children's health, Scottish Rite hospitals, shelter the homeless through our calling, clean the environment, work with the city of Plano and Murphy. We have adopted a street with the Eastern Islamic center where our volunteers and I myself had the opportunity every moment our leaders in all of us, we went to pick up the trash and clean the street.
We assist in the disaster program through ignor relief USA, educate the children through heart house, serve the elderly.
We also have in house ESL, ESL, and many other it classes. Those are free of charges to the community. In most cases.
We also provide financial assistance to those who are in need and they may have in any way that we can serve them we have a very
streamlined process that our volunteers have been doing this for years to make sure that the right people get the right services.
One of the many of the services we also have epic medical clinic, which is a free clinic free health care clinic to all regardless of their fate.
These are the services provided by our professional doctors and volunteers.
And it's been running for many, many years perhaps the longest that epic came to existence.
We are equally participating in civic engagement and we work very closely with the city of Plano and the Murphy.
We have recently had a
meet and greet with the candidates for the city of our city here Plano and Murphy as well as their school district who are running for their positions. We give them an equal opportunity here to come and meet with us and community had the opportunity to so you see that we are engaged in any capacity in every capacity, any one of us.
So, we care.
We not only care for our own people, we care for the community at large and wherever we are, we are
Part of our society. So we do care.
These a few highlights that who we are, what we do,
and how we contribute back towards society.
We are completely vested in the society. And we are proud to be part of this beautiful country that we call United States.
And we are equally American, like anyone else would claim.
So we have opened our doors with the hope that
some of you
have learned something new about us, perhaps clarify some misconception that mainstream media says otherwise.
And if you haven't, we have our leaders here, you will have the opportunity to ask them religious based questions and things you can entertain any political questions.
So they said no.
So anyway, I will just conclude with the thank to all of you that you took the time to come here. I thank my volunteers.
And thank my leadership, she usually is here who came from Minnesota all the way I reminded him is our Imam for this masjid. And she'll suggest that you you heard. So that's where I'm going to rest here. Thank you very much again, thank you. It's not only come with Allah
that Allah by the Javid
for introducing epic to all of us what we do? Obviously, I've been using a few words in sha Allah.
Allah had you wonder what they mean?
So in sha Allah, this is God willing, we always say anything we try and do we always go back and say that the will of Allah with the will of God, just like Allah head is like May Allah reward you may have the God reward you with good. So that's our way of thanking this. Obviously, we are doing a bit of the job aid mentioned, most of our work is volunteer based, and all of us. We just do this only for one reason to seek the pleasure of the Almighty God. That's what we're here for. The next like, next speaker, he's the Imam of our Masjid Imam Nadine Bashir. He was born and raised in the United States. So obviously, he's eligible to become the president of the United States. So
and he has very good memory. He memorized the whole Quran approximately about 6236 verses if I'm correct,
at the age of 11.
And then he can recite it from anywhere as you've seen, the student Sumerian is working towards that have suggested is the half as the memorized as well.
You remember, Diem received his education in New Orleans and then also in London. He graduated in 2003.
So he joined epic a spin Islamic center about seven years ago.
And he would come and say, one of the first things I learned from him is like Samir, I want to Epic to be on the national stage. I'm like, Well done, man, inshallah. So ladies and gentlemen, it's been seven years since he has served here at Epic as the leader for community He guides us in religious matters, civic matters. So I'd like to invite Imam Nadine Bashir.
Salam aleikum, and peace be upon you all.
This, I want to first of all, thank everyone for taking time out of their busy schedule. And being here with us today. It is truly an honor to have you all with us.
Epic strives every single day to build community cohesion, to build a comprehensive understanding within our own community members. And we tried to develop men and women and children here every single day, that will be an influential guide, and it will be effective in our community, in our society at large. One of the things that we do here also at Epic, alongside
alongside so many other things, as our president had mentioned, is that we work with other faith based communities. I myself has had the honor and the privilege of meeting with several of our pastors and our rabbis in the Dallas, Fort Worth area. There was a time when I even served on the Fort Worth side and I was able to build bridges there with us.
other people and other faith leaders, as I said, epic strives everyday to educate his members with the purpose of developing their personality that has beneficial to themselves. And as epic we also strive to offer programs that are not only just effective to us, but effective to our society. In addition to that, we have built bridges with other faith communities, to foster love, harmony, and inclusion, understanding and appreciation for one another. We also are diligently working to build cooperation, and mutual understanding with the community at large by hosting these kinds of events. And this is not the very first time we've had this event. In fact, we have held many events in the
past, where we have targeted specific audiences within our society, such as the law enforcement, city officials, teachers, church leaders and others. At today's event, open doors and open hearts, you may wonder what exactly is today's event about, once again, its purpose is to open our doors, meet our neighbors, to build bridges, to understand the and to, to build an understanding with our fellow Americans, who come from all different faiths. Today's this open house, of course, as you saw, and as you came, you saw what it was like people who come to our mosques for the very first time, they always wonder what exactly is our mosque? We have even heard responses and comments such
as we loved your mosque. And you know, there are questions I have even come at the mosque that where is your dungeon? People who come to the mosque for the very first time they they have asked, Where is your dungeon, and I said, it is not currently within our budget, and we cannot afford it. But if we do have the budget, we'll think about it. But we don't have any plans right now. But that's exactly what our mosque is a place of where we invite others. One of the things that I really want to emphasize upon is that as we see America right now, and the reason why I say that we have to strive and emphasize upon having these kind of gatherings where we open up to each other, where we
put aside our small differences, differences are so petty honestly, and the media has enlarged them. Whereas if we sit down with one another, and we share information with one another, we will realize that these differences are very miniscule. But this is the situation currently as we see in America is very unprecedented is we see that there is an increase in anger and divisiveness. There is a steep rise in racial prejudice, Islamophobia, anti semitism and xenophobia. And and it's a very sad trend, as we are seeing right now that the places of worship the places of sanctity, and does not matter what place it is, may it be a mosque, may it be a synagogue, may it be a church may be a
Buddhist temple, or a Hindu temple. At the end of the day, places of worship are places of worship. And unfortunately, we have seen a rise in crimes taking place at these worshiping places. And I asked Allah as God to protect these places no matter what these places are. But we have seen, unfortunately, the racism increasing the sexism that has increased Islamophobia that has increased the hate filled and irrational rhetoric that has been spewed by many people, in many cases, people who are serving as positions and roles in our American government. And that's why it's very important that we understand that at the end of the day, we all come from God. We all are the slaves
of God at the end of the day. And I will conclude by saying this, that the world divides us in different races. The media divides us in different races, the white race, the black race, the Hispanic race, and the brown race. But truly in the eyes of God, there's only one race and that is the human race. And as long as we keep that in mind, then we will be able to work together in cohesion, and we'll be able to foster a better understanding within ourselves. My name is once again, the theme Bashir and I thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedule and being here with us today. Thank you. Does that come on located? That's an awesome article.
Zack Alacati ma'am Nadeem for a wonderful talk.
The next speaker is one of my favorite speakers. I've been following him on because on YouTube, Facebook, he's a YouTube sensation. He was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina in a very conservative Christian home. He's very well versed in Bible.
In his early teens, he became heavily involved in church near his home with the intention of joining the ministry of teaching and preaching.
He accepted Islam in 1998.
He holds both his bachelor's and master's degree in Islamic Studies. The speciality in Dawa, which is propagation of Islam
is going to be on currently pursuing his PhD.
Without further ado, I'd like to introduce to our keynote speaker shaquiesha events
Salam Alaikum Peace and blessings beyond all of you. How are you guys?
You're good. Everybody's good. Let's get a little cordial in here. I'm gonna let you know off the bat. I am live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. So I'm a southern boy born and raised.
And I hope that you've seen some southern hospitality here at the masjid. Because southern hospitality is similar to Islamic hospitality, we treat guests very well. We were commanded by our Prophet alayhi salaatu wa salaam to treat guests so well, that the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said I was so impressed upon guest guests that Angel Gabriel came, and he pushed the rights of guests on me so hard that I thought he was going to leave inheritance from us for them. So guests are to be treated extremely well in the religion of Islam, they actually have rights over us. As soon as someone steps into our mosque as a guest. They have rights over a system when someone steps
into our house as a guest, they possess rights over us. So we hope we have tried to fulfill those rights of hospitality to you today, if not feel please feel free to lodge a complaint so that we can try to fix it next time. God willing.
As the brother to graciously said in the introduction, I accepted Islam in 1998.
And for the past 12 years, full time I have been traveling the globe, trying to help other people understand the religion of Islam the way I understood it in 1998, and have continued to understand it until this day, trying to show that Islam is not as different as it would be made seem to you that Islam as a way of life as a systematic religion is not much different than the other major religions of the world when it comes to its fundamental principles, as you would be led to think that there are minor differences that separate us. But those minor differences do create huge chasms when it comes to theology and things of that nature. But those are the things that should not be
dividing us as human beings, because of how we think, theologically. And what I wanted to share with you today to hopefully give you that understanding, is the overall understanding premise of the religion of Islam. What does the what does this mean? And who are Muslims? Because those are the two most misunderstood things in America today, when it comes to the religion of Islam? What is it mean? And who are Muslims? What does it mean to be a Muslim? And this I have actually used as definitions when I, when I taught weekend Islamic school when I taught Islamic courses, and also to Muslims. And this is something that we've all had to learn and kind of gradually understand as part of our faith.
Now, if you've heard anything about the religion, Islam, you've probably heard different definitions about the word that Islam means peace. Islam means submission, and things of that nature, right? You've heard different definitions. And they're all right, in the sense that they're all right, based on context, that the word Islam is not an English word. Correct, does not sound very English. So it has to be understood from its context. And this is why as Muslims we leave a lot of things in the Arabic language. I know what makes Islam seem very foreign. But the reason we do so is because there is no real proper connotation for many words that are in the Arabic language, especially in
the Quran, that can be put into English without spending an entire paragraph or two pages trying to explain it. The word Islam is a word from the Arabic language. So it has to be understood from the context of its originality.
Almost every single out a big word has a root definition or root meaning three or four letters that compromise the very foundation of that word. The word Islam comes from the root word set on a sedima which can mean peace. In Sudan. It can mean submission in cinema, it can mean obedience. It
can mean all of these things, the best way it was described to me, and the way that I was able to understand it the best and looking at Islam as a whole, is that the religion of Islam is an attempt, an attempt, and I say, an attempt, but it's something we tried to do, and attempt to submit to our Creator, sincerely in obedience to Him in order to obtain peace, in this life and peace in the next life. When it's understood in this premise, then it makes more sense, because if you were to say Islam means peace,
then that doesn't really fit because where does the peace come from? Is it is it through osmosis that just because you become a Muslim, now, everything is peaceful? No, we're all Muslims. And we know that, you know, things are not always peaceful, our lives are not always peaceful, the world is not always peaceful, the Muslim countries are not always peaceful. So to say that Islam equates peace is problematic, because peace is an end result of things. Peace comes through a lot of hard work and effort, and a lot of people coming together. So in Islam, we say that the peace is the end result of the submission, that through the submission to the Creator, doing what he wants me to do,
praying five times a day based on the pillars of Islam, that one of the pillars of Islam is to pray five times a day. Another pillar of Islam is to give charity and to pay charity to those who are less fortunate than you. Another pillar of Islam is to fast in the month of Ramadan. And another pillar of Islam is to make Hajj to the House of Allah and Mecca once in a lifetime, if you are financially able to do so, it is through these acts of worship, that we obtain the peace, it is through submitting to these things, that we obtain that peace in our own personal life. And I can speak from my own personal experience, that after 20 years of being a Muslim, it is Islam that has
brought me peace, and has allowed me to retain peace through very difficult things throughout my life in the past 20 years. So it is through that Islam, that we gain the peace. Now, who are the Muslims, who are the Muslims.
And also, before I go on, I want to remind you that if we understand that context of Islam being submitting to the Creator to obtain peace, it will weed out a lot of what is said to be Islam, but is not. Because if it doesn't fit to the definition, that sincerely submitted to the creator in order to obtain peace, then I can almost assuredly guarantee you, it's not part of the religion of Al Islam. There are so many things that the media will have you to believe that is part of the religion of Islam, that goes completely contradictory to any kind of peace in this life or in the next life, you will find that these things are not part of the religion of Islam, because they don't
even fit the very basic definition. Forget about going through the Quran and putting contextual realization on this verse or that verse know, if it does not go to the core meaning of the very foundation of the religion itself, and what it is named, then most likely, you will find that it is not part of either traditional organic text as it is understood by the Prophet Muhammad in his companions, nor a part of what is known as the Hadith or the Sunnah, the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, you will find that they don't correlate to each other.
Now, who are the Muslims, you can say the Muslims are anyone who says they're Muslim, or professors, the faith of Islam, but we also again have to look at that word, because that word is a bold proclamation. If I come to someone and say I am a Muslim, I am making a very well defined statement about myself and my identity, not just a name tag, because the word Muslim is also an Arabic word. It's not an English word.
And it has connotation and meaning behind it, coming from the word Islam, coming from the word Islam, because Muslim would go back to that very same core root meaning, but there is a grammatical effort been done to that word to give you some understanding in the English language, if I want to connote that I am the doer of an action, I want to say that I'm talking and I want to say I am the one doing it, or I'm walking and I'm the one doing it. How do you do that in English language?
He are, you add the suffix er to the end of the word. And that connotes that you are the doer of that action. So if I'm talking on the talk, or if I'm walking on the walk, or excetera, etc, in the Arabic language, grammatically, there is a very similar rule. There's a very similar rule that is used majority of the time not always, there's always exceptions to the rule, but a majority of the time, and it's one letter that usually becomes at the beginning of the word. What letter is that? The letter M mean, you put in at the beginning of a word or an action, and it connotes that that person is the doer of that action. For instance, the call to prayer that you heard if you were here
early enough to hear the call to the noon prayer. That is called the event in the Arabic language, the event the call to prayer, the one who does it is called the what?
The more than the more than the one who does the event. Traveling. I'll be doing some of that this afternoon. Back to Minnesota.
It is called suffer in the Arabic language traveling from one place to another. When I am the one doing the traveling I become, the more the more Musa fear, I become the one who is doing the traveling the same way that if I wanted to say I am a person who lives their life, submitting myself every single day intending trying to submit myself every single day, to be obedient to my Creator, so that I can live a peaceful life in this world and go on to live a peaceful life in the next world, which is the definition of Islam? How would I connote that I would say mu, Islam, I am a Muslim, I am someone who does Islam. That's simply the definition. I am someone who does Islam. So
that would also eradicate things that are attributed as a Muslim Act, in the media and in on the news and, and on social media that are contrary to the definition of Islam, then you cannot attribute the two, this is a crime. You know what you would say that this is a crime being promoted by a criminal just like every other crime. It is not a Muslim act, nor an Islamic act, because neither one fit into the definition of someone who is submitting themselves sincerely to the Creator, in order to have peace in this life. And in the next, I think if we were to understand Islam based on that more deeply and more thoroughly, then we could weed out a lot of Miss
representations of Islam, misunderstandings of Islam, and a lot of apprehension about Islam. Because you would realize that these are just like every other group of religious zealots, who we have all across the globe, from every religion, there has always been groups or a group of people who take faith and twist it and become criminals by the very faith they claim to possess. And they then eradicate themselves from being identified as such based on their own actions. So Islam means to sincerely submit oneself to one's Creator, to have peace in this life and the next. And that is always a struggle for us Muslims, we struggled just like every, every other human being struggles
within this world and within faith, to try to live by the Accords of Islam every single day, none of us are going to sit here and say that we are perfect. This is one of the most beautiful fundamental principles of Islam that I learned, on the very first day that I sat in a mosque just like this, I came on a Friday prayer. And the Imam talked about the forgiveness of God and how in Islam, that God is so forgiving, that we don't have the capacity to understand it, that he is more forgiving than then then we can imagine he loves us more than our own mother loved us than a mother can love her child, he is more forgiving than we could be sinful. So it means that we as Muslims strive every day
to try to live by Islam. But we fall very short, sometimes, we do fall very short sometimes. And
we should never, ever, ever, no religion should be judged by the actions of its adherence. This is not just on any scale. It is not just to summarize Christianity, by the actions of some of its inherence throughout history, because if so we could write off Christianity very easily, by things that were done in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh century, the acquisition things of that nature, we could very easily do so people who do things in behalf of the religion of Christianity, but we don't do that. That's not fair. That's not just it's not right. And I'm a person who is very just with with when it comes to comparative religion, that you will find good in every world religion,
you will find good teachings and every single religion on the face of this planet, you will find good in it.
Do the same we would not just judge Judaism based on the the actions of some of its adherence. We as Muslims, ask that the world do not judge the religion of Islam based on the actions of people who claim to be adherence of it, because that is unjust judge anything based on its textual evidence is judged slam based on the Quran, Judge Islam based on if you wanted to judge Islam based on any one human beings life, it should be the life of the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, just like with Christianity. And I know this because I was a Christian born and raised, I was a
United Methodist growing up with my grandparents and then became evangelical Pentecostal. We're not going to go on that road today. But if you would tell people when I was helping proselytize Christianity, don't look at me look at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ to understand Christianity understand salvation, etc. So we asked for that same for that same guys that we would ask for anybody else. And I'm going to close it here, because the thing that I find most about these types of events, and I've done them all throughout the globe, is the best part of these events come in the questions. Come in the questions. And please, please our guests. Do not be afraid to ask
anything about the religion of Islam. Even if you think it's a silly question. The only silly and stupid questions are the one you don't ask. And you go home not knowing about it. And then you go on as Professor Google who will give you so many results that you will become more confused than you were in the first place. It takes almost a degree now to go to Google and get you know pinpointed search results.
See, that actually means something that you want to know. The same with going on Social Media YouTube, you go looking for one thing. Next thing you know, you're watching videos about surfing dogs, and you don't know how you got there. And you've lost track of all time. So please ask any question you feel free to do. So ones that can be answered, we will answer them, and ones that can't be answered, We will defer them or as somebody who is more knowledgeable. But please take this opportunity to ask the most outlandish question about the religion you've had. As of yet. Thank you very much. I enjoyed your time said I'm on a gun Peace be on all of you.
Take a look as you shop for beautiful explanation of what Islam and what Muslims and, and whatnot. I'm sure you guys have enjoyed. You know, it's been very informative. And that's usually just mention, the best way for us to communicate with each other is to ask questions, get clarifications, perhaps. So we'll open the floor for the questions. open the floor for the questions. So we have Brother Mohammed here with the microphone. So if you do have a question, I request you that give everyone a chance to ask a question and keep your question short and precise. And if you have further questions, we'll come back to you time permitting. So any questions? You have a sister here?
Thank you, I just have two quick questions. The first one is
converting from Christianity to Islam.
The most questions Christians have is about Jesus Christ and how you make that switch. And the second question I have is when we were doing the tour, the volunteer was explaining to us how everything is segregated from men and women. And they do that to you know, preserve purity. So how do you meet your husband? Or how do you meet your wife? If the only time you can mingle is like you know, at work or in the grocery store? Maybe?
I'll take the first one would like the Imam answer the second one because it's about the Masjid.
I live in Minnesota claim ignorance. Okay. The question about when when converting from Christianity to Islam?
How, how do I deal with making the Jesus switch? I didn't see it as a switch. You see, that's the thing about it is I didn't really see it as a switch. Because when I when I was a teenager, I wanted to understand the life and personhood of Jesus to the best of my ability. I was studying textual criticism at the time, I wanted to go to Bob Jones University. So I was looking at the New Testament very, very analytically, very, in a very literal,
literal way. And I started to find that what I saw Jesus teaching his disciples, you know, was not really what I was being taught in Sunday school than at church, I found that he was teaching that God was one God was, you know, different. God was greater than Him. God knew more than him. I didn't see the equation happening that I had believed all my life with the Trinity. So that eventually led me to have some some crisis of faith in Christianity.
When I came to Islam, when I came to the religion of Islam, and came to understanding about Islam and read the Quran, for the first time, I found the stories of Jesus, as you heard, recited very at the very beginning of the program, where it talks about him being born of a virgin and born of the Virgin Mary and the things that he said that God is my Lord and your Lord, it reminded me of what Jesus told Mary Magdalene, when he met her before His ascension into heaven, he said, I must ascend to my father, your father, my God and your God. So it was very, very reminiscent in those teachings. And when I found out more about what Islam believed about Jesus, that He was one of the most
honorable prophets of Islam. He is one of the most renowned, revered prophets of Islam, he has mentioned over 25 You know, I mean, he's mentioned over 40 times and in the, in the Quran,
that he was born of a virgin, that the belief in Jesus between mainstream Christianity and Islam follows a parallel for a very long time. They diverge off when it comes to the crucifixion. This is where and the divinity of Jesus Christ, so I didn't see myself as making a switch, just more of getting a more focused understanding of who Jesus peace be upon him was one of the greatest human beings ever walked the face of the earth when the greatest of the messengers one of the greatest of the prophets, someone who's completely honored in Islam, who we believe will return again, just like mainstream Christianity does, we believe he will defeat the Antichrist, just like mainstream
Christianity does, we will believe that he will bring a peace of a place of peace and everlasting, I mean, not everlasting, but a period of peace and justice on the earth. So I didn't see myself as losing Jesus. I saw myself as getting more of a clear, defined picture on who he was. peace be upon him.
So
I want to hear the question one more time very precisely.
My question was, if everything is segregated between men and women, how would you be able to, you know, meet and fall in love with your husband or with your wife?
Well, okay, so let me take a step back and try to explain this.
In Islam, when we talk about the separation, I don't like using the word segregation, honestly, to begin with, when we talk about the separation, that is, that only applies to certain situations and certain contexts is
that does not the rule does not apply to the like, between the relationship between a husband and wife, otherwise, God having children will be the most difficult thing. So. So it's, it doesn't apply to the relationship between husband and wife, or parents or children, and so forth. It applies between strangers, when you don't have like a family relationship with someone or there are some things are mentioned in the Islamic faith that there are certain in front of certain people that a woman can remove her head covering. And there are some certain people where she has to keep that covering. Now, in many cases, a woman has to apply that head covering or the hijab,
in front of strangers. And that's why in many cases, when they go outside, they are interacting with strangers. That's why they have to wear apply the hijab. So there are certain times or certain places where they apply that separation. And there are some certain places where they don't apply that separation. Yeah, so at family, there is no separation. Yeah.
So just like Okay, as you you for answering the question. So, the next question. Anybody else? Or questions over there?
You have a question here.
Thank you. Mr. Evans, I was curious, I heard you say that you found peace through Islam. And I was very curious to hear your thoughts on what parts of Islam whether it's the culture or the atmosphere, or different texts, that you you believe helped you find peace through the religion?
That is a very good question. In the reason I initially decided that I was going to accept Islam, what convinced me per se, was the Quran itself was the Quran. Because when I was looking for the right way of life, as you can say, I wanted some physical evidence. I believe that if God was real, and he sent us prophets and messengers, and he wants us to worship Him, then there has to be some physical proof of this, you know, I mean, that it can't be all based on faith and just belief in the unseen, there has to be something tangible. And that's what made me dig into the Bible farther, dig into the Torah farther dig into the Vedas, dig into religious texts, and scripts and manuscripts or
whatever I could find when I read the Quran for the first time.
I wouldn't say that I knew it was all 100% true, because I'd only read through it one time in the English language. But there was something about this book that was completely different than any other religious texts I had ever read in my entire life. And that allowed me to accept this as the premise of faith and the premise of the truth. Now 20 years later, after having read through that Quran time and time again and spent time with scholars who know this book forward, backward, inside out, left and right, I'm just as convinced as I ever was before. And this book the Quran has given me more peace in my life than I would say that anything else could have imaginable if that makes
sense. So the Quran has been my foundation
settle Okay, more questions, keep them coming.
I'm sure you've probably heard this you. You probably heard about Islam, Muslims. I'm sure you have more questions. Here's the time to ask the questions. Let's give the chance to the guests first. And if
and don't Don't be embarrassed to ask us questions. If
you feel like there's something you need to get off your chest that you need to have answered. This is the time to do so.
What is your message to someone
who is contemplating between joining the Islam
but it's their first time reciting or reading Quran
what is your message to someone who is their first time reading the Quran and contemplating between joining or not?
But then sometimes the pray, they just want to see their Muslim friends pray they pray, you know, the follow the same steps and do and repeat it. And then the interests
define an interest in how Muslims pray. And at the same time as well, they read Kryon
now with the intention of maybe learning but with the intention of questioning between the Bible and the Quran
I'm speaking from a friend that asked me a similar question, while
recently.
So
I'm not sure if it's a question if it is just accent for your opinion or?
Yeah, it's, it's a question.
When when people tell me that they have some interest in to Islam? What advice should I give them? What should they read what they should they say they have read the Quran or read this? What advice can I give them, I always give everybody the exact same advice. That, look, the relationship between you and your Lord is a personal relationship, the relationship between you and the One who created you is a personal relationship between you and him. So if you want to know the truth, if you want to know the truth, whatever that truth might be, the best thing for you to do is to sincerely by yourself alone, ask your Creator, say My Lord, if You created me and you want me to worship you,
then show me the truth guide me to that which is the truth and be sincere about that, that question be sincere about that intent. Because it says in the Quran that those who will to walk upright those who desire to walk upright, we guided them to our way. So we believe as Muslims that anyone who wants true sincere guidance, they will receive true sincere guidance. That is if they're willing to set aside any bias to any prejudice, any, you know, tinted frame that they look at the world at or look at religion that and are willing to just accept whatever information comes in front of them, then they will be guided towards the truth. But it takes that sincere intent to want to know the
truth no matter where it might come from, if that makes sense. No matter where it might reach you from.
This might just be a clarification for me, but you talked about the five pillars of Islam. If a person doesn't do one of those pillars, per se, does that mean that they cannot have that peace, that you were talking about achieving the peace?
I can't say it is okay. If you don't give us a cow, you won't have peace.
But as a holistic understanding that when you struggle against that submission, it's going to automatically cause turmoil inside of yourself, especially if it's things that you know that you're supposed to do. Things that you understand is part and parcel to acknowledging that there's one true god that exists, He wants you to pray five times a day, okay? He wants you to give portion of your wealth to charity to help those who are less fortunate in the you, okay? When when you decide not to do those things, there is always going to be some turmoil is created within you that's going to rob a bit of your peace. I'm not saying you might, you're going to be in constant turmoil and you know,
in detriment of soul over it, but it will rob a bit of the peace that inside of you, because everything that is a part of the pillars of Islam is for the betterment of yourself and other people in humanity. The prayer is for your own benefit. Praying doesn't benefit God's whatsoever. giving charity is for your own benefit, as well as others benefit. So when you withhold those types of things, you withhold that prayer from yourself, you withhold charity from other people, then it is going to by its very nature, rob a little bit of that peace that you have inside of yourself, if that makes sense. If you are someone who truly tries to be a good person, it's gonna it's gonna
affect your conscience. It's going to affect your good nature. And yes, it will take a bit of that piece from you
Polycom I was I just got here recently. So I may have missed this question or part of the discussion. So I apologize. If I'm asking something that's already been asked her disgust but how as a Muslim, how do you
relate the Holy Spirit that's mentioned in the Bible to the
Quran? Is it
mentioned in the Quran in some some way, has ever been asked.
When it when it comes to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit as understood by Trinitarian Christianity as the third percentage of God, we do not believe it in that way we don't believe in in that way we don't believe in the Holy Spirit in the sense of of being
a part of God or a percentage of God. But In Islam there is a percentage known as produce or the Holy Spirit. He's referred to as the angel Gabriel, the Archangel Gabriel, who delivers messages we believe he is the one who delivered all the messages to all the prophets. He brought the Torah to Moses, he brought the Gospel to Jesus, he brought the Quran to Muhammad peace be upon all of them. He is also termed as the Ark Angel and Ro Allah produce or the Holy Spirit. That makes sense.
Sure.
I was at a lecture recently, and they mentioned about isa
being a carpenter. And there were many Muslim brothers present that did not had said they'd never heard that before. Is that Is that something that that? That would you say most Muslim brothers don't realize that he said was a carpenter. It's not mentioned in the Quran or in Islamic texts, the fact that he was a carpenter by trade. So that's why you might have that we know that all prophets were a shepherd at some point. They tended to sheep at some point, but it does not mention him as being a carpenter by trade within the Quranic text or the the Hadith text. Not that I know. I've never I've seen no. So that's why you probably won't see them recognizing him as being a carpenter,
if that makes sense.
Not denying saying, yeah, it's quite possible. You know, I mean, that he was a carpenter has no problem with that whatsoever. It doesn't contradict anything at all.
Sound
I've told many people about the message of Islam, and they maybe will accept it and they will say, the message is beautiful. I believe in the Quran, I believe in Mohammed Salah Salem. But I see Islam as difficult. I have to put forth so much effort, I have to cover my hair, I have to pray not one time, but five times, I have to fast I have to do this. They see it as difficult. So I tried to answer the question in the best way that I can. But I'm curious to hear what you would say to someone who says I love Islam. It's wonderful. And the message is great. And but I don't want to put forth effort, you know, what would you say to that person?
So, it is a very common question. No doubt. The way I would answer that question is that in every single religion, there is always you know, especially in Islam, as Shan Shan mentioned, at the very beginning, it's about earning the pleasure of God. And within Islam, there are some certain things that we have to do at the end of the day, that God wants to see our commitment and he wants to see how much we love him. Truly, I will say that it may seem very difficult, it's not very difficult once you become in a habit of it.
For a person to go from one from zero prayers a day, or one prayer day to five can seem like a very uphill battle, no doubt, to go from not fasting at all, or from a type of fasting where there are some like you can probably drink something or not to completely no eating or no drinking at all, from the break of dawn to sunset can be a very daunting task. At the same time. In Islam, we believe that Allah does not first of all, Allah or God does not put upon a human being what is beyond his capacity that is mentioned in the Quran. If God knew, and I want to, I want to take a step back here and and say this, that it is a story or an incident that does exist within Islamic faith and in our
in our religion, that Prophet Muhammad went upon this very famous journey called the call the ascension. And when he went to God, to when he went to God, God gave him this gift of prayers. And initially, he gave him 50 prayers a day, okay. 50 prayers a day. And it is mentioned within our text that on his way back, he actually did come across Prophet Moses. And Moses said, Moses said that this is going to be very difficult for your people and try to trim it down somewhat. And so he went to he again went back to God, and in Prophet Muhammad, he got it and he reduced it all the way down to five and Allah and God put it to
Five, because Allah knows that this is not something that is beyond the capacity of a human being. In every single religion, I'll be honest with you that as a Muslim, we may see that there is something there's a practice within other religions that I can probably never do. And every person who belongs to any religion, there are going to be some activities, or certain actions of another religion, that we feel like that this is a very difficult task to do. But at the same time that people who are following that religion, they are followers of that faith, or that way of life, they will tell you that is just part of life. So first thing is God does not put upon us something that
is beyond our capacity. And number two is that this is also a way that God wants to see how much we are committed in serving him.
My question is, why does the prayer have to be done in such a specific way? And is the purpose of the prayer time to,
like, show God that just like you are committing your time to this prayer? Or is it actually to communicate with God? And can you like not just do that, like, while you're driving in your car or sitting at home? Does it always have to be done in this specific way that we saw earlier?
So the very first part of your question was what again? Sorry, man.
Okay, why?
Okay, so why does have to be done a very specific way? The simple answer to that? Is that because God said, so, there is really, in Islam, there is really no, there are a lot of theories out there. A lot of theories given by Islamic,
Islamic jurist, Islamic scholars, exactly what could be the theory behind it. Some of the theories that do exist is that it goes to show our commitment to God when we can take time out and dedicate ourselves to God throughout the entire day.
One could be one, I mean, one could say that, well, why do I not just combine all the five prayers at one time and just pray it and knock it out as like a like, it's like a, you know, on your to do list, knock it out, you know, in worship, you know, take care of your other things throughout the day. But the the the aspect of a Muslim is that you remember God throughout the entire day. And that is what happens throughout the entire day, you the very first one takes place, at the break of dawn, the second one takes place at right after afternoon time. The third one takes place around an hour to an hour and a half or two hours before sunset, the fourth one takes place at sunset, the fifth
one takes place an hour to an hour and a half after sunset. By doing this, and revolving around the clock, and we are worshiping God, we are showing God that, you know, we all have a life. Of course, we all have jobs, we all have responsibilities, we have families, but at the same time, this is my way of showing my dedication to God. The second thing is that why do we do it in this particular format? There's also you know, I will say that the format we use, if you go back and you study the scriptures of the past, and how prophets of the past would worship God, the stories of Abraham, the stories of Moses, the stories of Jonah, and all the previous prophets that have been mentioned,
whether in the Bible or in the Quran, there was some resemblance to the way we pray right now, the prostration that we do, we see this across many cultures, many faiths, this is not something new within Islam, to stand, and looking down. And being submissive is also another form of respect that many faiths they have, and they and they exhibit. So the way we pray, and the things that we do in our prayer is not considered as totally foreign. It is, it is something that it does exist in some capacity in other religions. But I will say that in Islam, this is the way God has shown. We believe that Angel Gabriel came, and he showed Prophet Mohammed how to pray in this particular format. He
showed him how to pray in this particular format. Now once again, there might be a lot of theories. But the simple and short answer is that this is now an Angel Gabriel will only show Prophet Mohammed, what he has been told by God, he cannot dilute that information or change that that information that has been given to him by God, whatever he was given by God, he was he delivered that message to Prophet Muhammad
just add something really quickly that because you were saying why can I do it in my car? Why can't Muslims are allowed to pray anytime they want, you know, I mean, that is called dua you can ask God for anything you want it
Anytime, for any reason, the five daily Salah are acts of worship, these are set aside standard traditional acts of worship that belong to God Himself that we give as servitude to the Creator who created us. And as the Imam said there that you can come up with many theories of why they're set out a certain part of the day, and why we do them exactly the way we do them. But two things that they do teach us is number one, they teach us discipline, which no human being can live without some form of discipline, we see the world is in utter chaos today, because you have very little discipline left. And people were live a very hedonistic lifestyle, where it's just about getting
what I can get as quick as I can get it as fast as I can get it. Taking time out of your day, five times a day, causes you to have to stop and reflect on the reality of your existence. You're facing your Creator, you're facing your inevitable into your life, that you have to return to Him, all of these things are reminded to us in the prayer. So that that matters, that means that all throughout the day, I'm constantly being reminded of this fulfilling purpose that I must have in my life, that has to overrule everything else. So it helps us to make better decisions Shama.
Go ahead, I just wanted to mention, you know, you might miss a bite, share with with some of those that are not Muslims, about the different ways that we're allowed to pray if we're traveling before on an airplane of her on a train or bus.
In a situation where we're not able to get over to get out or even in a hospital bed, you know, those are things that I think are worth sharing.
So, thank you so much, to the gentleman in the back. Yes, uh, once again, our Islam is not about that you have to, you know, whatever the situation is, you have to step out of that, and you have to do it this certain way. Islam says that whatever situation you find yourself in, you pray. So for example, if I find myself in a plane, I can, I can pray in my seat, if I am, or I can go to the back of the plane, but in this day and age going in the back of the plane asking for a place to pray, can actually does that can cause some issues. So that's why the Scholars they suggest that you sit in your place and you pray,
if you are traveling, because traveling does take out a lot of a does take a lot of energy out of a person, it's not easy. Islam has said that when a person is traveling, then the prayer is, is reduced by half. Or I would like to call it the 50% discount prayer. Okay, so basically, the four unit prayer becomes a two unit prayer and so forth.
If you're a Sikh, you can pray you can pray sitting down in your bed, you don't have to get out of your bed. In fact,
some of the tour guides may have shown you or not, but there's a certain ritual, there's a certain absolution or ritual that we perform a cleansing ritual. Even in that case, there are some people that they're not able to have contact with water, there is a substitute for that also, there is not there is going to be a substitute for every single thing. But there is no substitute for showing and submitting our will to God. At the end of the day, we are going to pray because that is our commitment to God. There is no substitution for that, how we perform it, how we perform it. Based on the situation, it can always change. Even like for example, the month of Ramadan is coming as just
only one week away the month of fasting. Islam has said that if there is a nursing woman, that she is exempt from fasting, if there is a woman who is expecting she is exempt from fasting, if there's a person who has who is sick, they cannot fast doctors have ordered that by by fasting, you are only putting your health at more risk than they are exempt from fasting. There are people in our community who are diabetic, they cannot fast then they are exempt from fasting. So Islam is not this hard and fast way of life that you know, it's this way or not all Islam says that no, you have to show your submission to God. But based on the certain circumstances that are surrounding you, you
can alternate them or you can alter them based on your situation.
I have a question. Earlier Jessica asked a question. I think she did not get the proper answer. If
if we if they don't mingle, how do they get married or find a person to marry or vice versa male or female?
Okay, so.
Okay, so I want to clarify this question. First of all is in house insert, spouse
Islam has printed premarital intimate relationship, okay, I want to make that very clear. Now, once two people they enter in the bonds of marriage, then there is no separation or there is nothing that will prevent them from coming together, there is no headcovering What
are no limitations between the husband and wife at that time? Hopefully that answers that.
So, hopefully that there is there is no the rules of separation does not apply to a husband and wife
if they can, so,
if, when it comes to Okay, so the question is how they are, how can they find someone if they cannot mix, Islam does allow there are some certain etiquettes that have to be applied. When two people when a man and a woman, they converse with each other and they interact with each other, they are allowed to talk to each other, there are some certain guidelines like for example, they're not allowed to touch one another. They're not allowed to, they're not allowed to engage in flirtatious talk, they cannot give any kind of message that will make the other person uncomfortable. But if two people with the intention of possibly marrying one another, if they sit at a table, or they want to
talk to each other face to face, that's absolutely fine. That's absolutely fine. In Islam, men and women are allowed to converse with one another. This event was put together by the brothers and sisters of this community. I in many cases, how to converse with my Muslim Sister, how do we do that we apply the etiquettes that have been taught to us by religion. So there's nothing wrong with that. Now, as far as prayer is concerned, because prayer has a physical aspect to that. That's why you will see that women have a separate place to pray. And men have a separate place to pray. But men or women are allowed to interact each other. But they're not allowed to be physical with one another or
touch one another or even like hugging in that case.
So these are great conversations, great questions, great answers. There's one more question over there. And then after that, I'm gonna do a quick time check. And then go ahead. Go ahead. You mentioned a lot the media, there's misinformation.
Can you just talk about the media? We hear a lot about the infidels and the jihad versus Islam? I mean, the true meaning of Islam, how does how do those two relate?
They don't relate. That's the problem.
Because everything in Islam has to have a proper context and meaning. Is there a word as jihad in Arabic? Yes, it does. The word jihad means to make exertion to make effort to strive to sacrifice the struggle for for something just for something.
God conscious for something, right. And unfortunately, that has been taken to mean everything under the sun, except that except that meaning. And that is a huge problem that we find with the way the Western media portrays Islam. When it comes to the extremism, they love to say Islamic radicalism, jihad, this Jihad that without giving a proper context or definition or any other side, to explain what that really, really means.
We as Muslims are should be more in control of the narrative. One thing that I've stopped doing is learning to blame the media. Because the media is an institution of propaganda and has been since the very beginning. It's always been an institute to propagate ideas, you know, of whoever's got the biggest pocket or funding the agenda. We have to be able to take more care of that negative negative narrative ourselves and not be afraid to mention these things like is there a jihad in Islam? Yes, it is done for Justin righteous calls to to defend and honor human life to defend and honor justice, defend and honor women to defend and honor children. Not that complete opposite to take all of that
away from them. That that is completely dispelled myth if anyone took the time to really look and search into it, and this whole thing about Sharia that we shouldn't be afraid of Sharia coming to America, like it's a very problematic understanding of
pundants and bigots trying to contextualize religion into small sections that they understand can turn our entire nation against them, if that makes sense. Because even the word should eat to say that Muslims can't have Sharia they don't even understand what it means they have no idea what the word Sharia means. And when I see these being purported, they're using one sub sect of Sharia known as fickle Genet or the law of crime and punishment. Just like
We have a criminal justice system in America. If Islam claims to be a holistic system of life for everyone, then there must also be Crime and Punishment laws within there as well. Are they applicable the United States of America? No, we have a crime and punishment system. It's a bit broken to be honest with you the criminal justice system of America news, serious reform. But that doesn't mean that you know, we have Shetty means the religion of Islam, they equate to each other, should he or means the way in which we practice Islam. That's what it means. The way we pray is Sharia the way we make ablution in the bathroom? Is Sharia the way we get married? Is Sharia the way
we
behave when children are born. Shadia. All of it is part and parcel to the religion of Islam. That's why they use that word. So they can basically say that the Muslims can have their religion. So yes, all those things are there. But they are always, always not just used out of context, they are completely used, devoid of context, if that makes sense. So it's better if we contextualize things. And that should be done by people who understand the religion, not people who have an agenda. That makes sense. Thank you very much.
One thing I do want to mention about the word infidel, that has been mentioned so many times, by the way, that word infidel, if you actually go back, and you do if you ever get a chance to do your own research on this, the word infidel, the very first time this word term was used, it was not used by Muslims, but is used by the Crusades, when they were addressing Muslims. It was used by the Crusaders when they were referring to Muslims. So that's where this word infidel actually comes from. As our as our guest shall you shall mentioned that in Arabic, of course, the Quran is in the Arabic language, everything comes from the Arabic language.
The thing is that this word infidel was never did never exist. There are different terms for this, but this word Infidel has been overhyped, and you know, magnified and so forth. But if you do your research, you will find that it was not the Muslim who use this term for the very first time.
You will take one last question for the sister here, then we'll do the closing. Sorry, I have two questions. My first question is to understand in terms of school of thought, What does epic where does it fall under in terms of a category? I don't know if you have denominations within Islam, or what that looks like? And then my second question is, you mentioned that goddess, forgiving and I wanted to know, what does that look like in your life? How does how does God exemplify that for you in terms of forgiveness? And then also, if you believe that God is a God of justice as well? What does that look like to? And what does it look like on the day of judgment as well? And thank you so
much for the brochures, I will read through them as just skimming them and trying to look for an answer in them. I didn't find in there. But um, thank you so much for having this open house as well.
So we are we belong to the Sunni Muslim sect? We are, as you can see that I mean, if you travel the land, there are a lot of different denominations, but we belong to the Sunni Muslim sect. Yeah. Does that answer that question? Okay.
The question with regards to God's forgiveness and God's justice, these are kind of an ever misunderstood balance that we have with our nature and our relationship with God. We believe that God created all human beings, understanding that giving them a free will they were going to choose wrong a lot of times, and the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon it even said that every child of Adam commits sin, every child of Adam makes mistake, The Best of those who make mistakes are those who repent from those mistakes. So we believe that relationship with God in our sin, nature is always going to be a back and forth pendulum, that we are going to seek forgiveness of God, and then we're
going to eventually fall back into some sin, then we seek the repentance of God and we're eventually by our very nature, going to fall back into that sin nature. Our goal is to try to always try to follow up evil deeds or sins with good with seeking forgiveness, and then trying to do good and recompense for that, when it comes to the justice of the Creator. That's one that I really can't go very deep. And because we don't understand that true justice, because we understand justice as human beings, based on the world we lived in. And that's never real, true. Justice. The world is not a just place. It's it's part of our reality. But we believe that God is truly just in the sense that
everything will be dealt with on the Day of Judgment, that is when true justice will be meted out. There will be people who have lived this in this world who have been truly evil people that never paid for it, that never we in our eyes, they never paid for it. They got away with so much. And there are people who are really good people who seem to have paid for everyone else's, you know, misdeeds and misgivings. And that doesn't seem to make any sense for us as Muslims, we don't see things in a very finite scale when it comes